Up to 20 million factory jobs to be taken by robots by 2030

According to analysis firm Oxford Economics up to 20 million manufacturing jobs around the world could be replaced by robots by 2030.

The report said that people displaced from those jobs are likely to find that comparable roles in the services sector have also been squeezed by automation.

But there are two sides to the story as increasing automation will also boost jobs and economic growth, it added.

The firm called for action to prevent a damaging increase in income inequality.

Each new industrial robot wipes out 1.6 manufacturing jobs, Oxford Economics said, with the least-skilled regions being more affected.

Regions where more people have lower skills, which tend to have weaker economies and higher unemployment rates anyway, are much more vulnerable to the loss of jobs due to robots, the Oxford Economics report said.

 

Via BBC